With so many distortion pedals on
the market today, how can you possibly
pick one to call your own? How can
you find that one distortion pedal to rule
them all? Even narrowing down your choices to
a select few can be a time-consuming and costly
process. It can also be frustrating when you go
to your favorite guitar store to try out a bunch
of distortion pedals, only to be out-volumed by
that kid playing the entire Metallica catalog.

But choosing that one distortion pedal is crucial.
It can be your identity and your voice, the
key to expressing yourself. Later you might discover
that the pedal isn’t as great as you initially
thought, and that can negatively affect your
playing (as well as your wallet)—and you may
even play less because you don’t like your tone.

If you play blues one night and hard rock the
next—if you need a variety of distortion, from
mild overdrive to high gain—it gets more
complicated. Chances are, you’ll need a variety
of pedals, everything from that vintage
fuzz to the latest high gain distortion, to create
that diverse sound palette.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have just one distortion
pedal with a wide variety of modern
and vintage sounds? The people at Source
Audio think so. That’s why they created the
Soundblox Pro Classic Distortion. The result of
a five-year listening study, this compact, easy-to-use pedal offers distorted tones that are
based on (but not exact copies of) more than
40 classic pedals. It features the company’s
56-bit proprietary SA601 digital signal processor
and crystal-clear 24-bit converters, which
serve up four tube-amp and eight fuzz-box/
overdrive tones, a Clean Boost mode, six user
presets, a seven-band graphic EQ, and a MIDI
input. It also features an active analog bypass,
which is fully routed around the DSP.

Taking a Closer Look
The Pro Classic Distortion’s controls are simple
and straightforward. The Effect knob selects
between 11 types of distortion and a Clean
Boost/EQ setting. Three other knobs—two
Drives, Midrange, and Output—and the seven-
band EQ deliver extreme versatility when
programming custom sounds. You can save
six of those as presets and recall them later
via the three footswitches. The back panel
features a 9-volt DC power
jack, mono ¼" in and out jacks,
an Expression Input for morphing
between presets, a MIDI input for automation
and parameter control, a Sensor In
jack for the most fun and innovative feature
of Source Audio Soundblox pedals—the Hot
Hand—and a Sensor Out jack for daisy-chaining
Hot Hand-enabled pedals.

If you’re not familiar with the Hot Hand motion
sensor, you wear it on your picking hand and
use it to control effects with, well, your hand
motions. With the Classic Distortion pedal, the
Hot Hand controls the amount of Drive, so you
can experiment and control effects such as
tremolo, volume swells, and other wild effects
just by waving your hand around.

The various distortion settings are very similar
to many popular distortion pedals of the
past. Source Audio captures the spirit of each
distorted sound instead of copying it exactly.
The Tube Drive setting is similar to a Marshall
sound, offering a nice, overdriven tube-amp
effect. Smooth Tube is based on Mesa/Boogie
preamp distortion. Power Stage is inspired by
the Fulltone Distortion Pro pedal. Crunch Tube
is Source Audio’s own aggressive tube-style distortion. The TS9000 setting is similar to the
Ibanez Tube Screamer and has plenty of mid
boost. If you are a fan of the vintage Electro-
Harmonix Big Muff Pi pedal, you will love the
Big Pi setting. El Raton captures the spirit
of the classic ProCo Rat. And, since Source
Audio includes the El Raton, it’s only natural
that they include their version of the classic
Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face sound—which is what
inspired the creation of the Rat. This setting
is called Fuzz Facade. The Bender setting is
based on the Tone Bender MKII, which is most
commonly associated with Jimmy Page and
Jeff Beck. The Metal setting is Source Audio’s
scooped-mids sound for modern metal. The
Octave Fuzz is a full-wave rectifier that mimics
the classic Octavia effect. The last setting is
Clean Boost/Tone, which bypasses the distortion
but still allows the gain and tone controls
to be used. It’s great for clean lead boosts or
it can be used strictly as a tone control. Also, if
you boost the level high enough you can get
a really cool hard clipping sound, which is a
unique distorted tone on its own.

On the Open Road
I tested the Classic Distortion using many guitars,
including those with single-coil, soapbar,
and humbucking pickups. I routing everything
through a Marshall JCM900 half-stack, and I
also went direct into Pro Tools to test through
several amp models. I started out by cranking
the pedal’s Drive control and putting the tone
about 3/4 up. With those parameters set, I
scrolled through the effects. With every guitar,
pickup, or amp I used, the distortion was rich,
thick, and clear on each setting. Everything from
a milder overdrive to aggressive tube-style distortion
can be found in this pedal. I could play
with a bluesy rock tone and instantly switch to a
high-gain metal tone. I didn’t find any distortion
setting that I thought was too thin, too fuzzy,
or unusable. And not once during my tests did
I ever detect any sort of digital harshness or
fizziness. Each distortion had its own unique
sound, and guitarists will be happy to have that
many different varieties of distortion at their
fingertips. Source Audio definitely captured the
spirit of the pedals that these sounds are based
on, and even if they’re not exact copies, they’re
pretty darn close. If you’re not familiar with a
lot of the original distortion pedals that the
Soundblox Pro Classic Distortion was inspired
by, this pedal serves as a good introduction.

I spent quite some time jamming with each
setting, and the variety of tones you can get
within just one distortion setting was impressive.
And that’s largely because the Tone and
Drive parameters have such a wide range. For
example, you can start off with Drive up pretty
high and Tone up about halfway for a nice,
saturated sound. Bring the tone up all the way
while lowering Drive, and you get a completely
different sound. You can then adjust the
parameters and your pickup selections for tons
of sounds. Multiply that by the 11 available
distortion varieties, and you have an amazing
distortion palette to choose from.

Selecting the Fuzz Facade setting, boosting the
highs in the graphic EQ, rolling off Drive 1, and
setting Drive 2 at about 11 o’clock resulted in a
smooth, Brian May-kind of tone. Source Audio’s
own Metal setting has plenty of highs and
lows, and I was able to get a sound similar to
the late Dimebag Darrell, who had one of my
favorite high-gain tones. I also had fun playing
around with the Octave Fuzz, which mimics the
classic Octavia. I found that this effect works
really well with my pickup in the neck position.
Playing lead lines, you immediately get higher
overtones and octaves that pop out on top of
your melodies. Usually when you play sustained
notes at a high volume through an amp, they
feed back and morph into the higher octave.
Unfortunately, to achieve that effect you have
to crank your amp and stand in front of it. With
the Octave Fuzz, you can get the same sound
playing at a very low volume!

As if all of that tonal variety isn’t enough, you
have additional effect options with the Hot
Hand motion sensor. This wireless system consists
of a lightweight, wireless motion-sensor
ring and a small RF receiver that plugs directly
into the Sensor In jack. The Hot Hand is a lot
of fun to play with. I placed the sensor on the
ring finger of my strumming hand, hit a chord,
and waved my hand up and down. It controlled
the amount of drive as if my hand was
a volume pedal—it was a really cool tremolo
effect. This is particularly useful if you want the
ability to control tempo, from fast pulsing to
longer volume swells. The Drive knob controls
the maximum amount of drive you get when
moving the sensor. In addition, the Pro Classic
Distortion offers controls—including calibration,
sensitivity, and axis selection—to help
fine-tune Hot Hand functionality. Hot Hand
control can even be turned on or off in a programmed
preset using the HH Enable button.

Another unique feature of Soundblox Pro series
pedals is their ability to morph between presets
using an expression pedal. The six presets
are arranged in two banks of three, and the
expression pedal allows you to morph between
adjacent presets (1 to 4, 2 to 5, and 3 to 6).
That way you can, for instance, go from low- to
high-gain sounds on the fly or smoothly blend
one distortion type into another. For example,
you could transition from a Big PI setting to an
Octave Fuzz without a bunch of toe tapping.

The Final Mojo
Source Audio’s Soundblox Pro Classic
Distortion puts a wide variety of distortion
at your fingertips, and it’s great to have
them all in one place to call up instantly. It’s
like having 12 different pedals for the price
of one. Guitarist Adrian Belew has called
the Soundblox Pro Classic Distortion and
Soundblox Pro Multiwave Distortion “the
best distortion boxes ever made.” So if
you’re looking for a little fuzz in your future,
check out the Classic Distortion and see what
other artists have been raving about.

Buy if...
you’d like a single distortion pedal with
tons of modern and vintage sounds.Skip if...
you don’t need a wide variety of
distortion sounds.
Rating...

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